Back in 2000, I had a massive fear of pendulum style attractions due to a traumatic experience on a carnival swinging ship, more specifically Fiesta Shows’ Pharaoh’s Fury, as a kid and had a long hiatus from this type of attraction for years. But for whatever reason, probably because the attraction looked so innocent and slow off-ride, I chose to give this a whirl and boy did I have an incredible time. However, let me say this, the Rainbow was far from tame. It was intense!
Located at the front of the park, the attraction was a great welcome to the park with its bright, vibrant color scheme and beautiful appearance. Not only that, but the attraction definitely looks exciting off-ride, albeit slow, but its appearance was good enough to convince me to give one of these pendulum style attractions a shot after many years. Thankfully though, I didn’t have very much time to second-guess my decision to ride this since it didn’t have a wait at all thanks to its high capacity. Due to the park’s policy, single-riders like me were forced to pair up with another rider in order to be permitted to experience the attraction.
Once seated and restrained by the non-restrictive and very spacious lap bar, Rainbow began slowly rotating, higher and higher as it went until eventually going all the way over the top. And boy was this a real thrill. With each full rotation, I experienced copious air that gently lifted me from my seat, followed by some of the most intense laterals I’ve ever experienced. This combination of floater air and laterals would be deemed painful by some, but I had no pain or discomfort whatsoever during the attraction. It was simply just an incredible sensation matched by very few attractions I’ve been on. Along with providing an amazing ride, the cycle wasn’t flagrantly short like some of the park’s other attractions, as it seemed pretty average for a flat in my opinion.
Rainbow simply was an amazing flat and easily one of the top flats I’ve ever been lucky enough to experience. Just the incredible combination of floater air and laterals was unbelievable and made this the park’s second best attraction, just behind the almighty Comet. Also, oddly enough, I was too cowardly to ride any other pendulum style attractions for seven more years following my heavenly rides on this until finally conquering my fear for good at Canobie in ‘07. Unfortunately though, the park removed this great attraction after this summer due to maintenance issues, and while Sasquatch (a colossal S&S combo tower) will definitely be a worthy replacement, it’s a shame that one of the park’s best attractions had to be sacrificed to bring it in. I hope all other Rainbows out there remain open since if the others are anything like this one, they are sure to be a major thrill. R.I.P. Rainbow!
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